Why the most beautiful shot in sport is dying

Martina Navratilova saw how tennis would evolve eight years ago. “It practically takes a genius” to hit a one-handed backhand, she told Sports Illustrated in 2016.

Navratilova, who mastered the shot during a career that yielded 18 grand slam titles, predicted that in an era of rapid technological advancements in racquets and slow court surfaces, the most beautiful shot in the game was heading for extinction.

Today, with only 10 players across the men’s and women’s top 100 still using the one-handed backhand, the shot is a dying art.

Roger Federer with a backhand return against Marin Cilic in the 2017 Wimbledon final.Credit: AP

The two-handed version provides more power and stability and many players are instead choosing to adopt a one-handed slice – a groundstroke with backspin rather than topspin – as a variation shot alongside their typical two-hander. Three-time grand slam champion Ash Barty was particularly skilled at the slice, and often used it to disarm her opponents.

Roger Federer was known for having one of the most stunning – and certainly the most successful – one-handed backhands in the open era, with 20 grand slam titles won by the time he retired in 2022.

Australia’s Todd Woodbridge, a 16-time grand slam doubles champion and another notable “oney”, says he wouldn’t employ the one-hander if he had his time again.

“If I was starting again, I’d start with a two-handed backhand, and I’d work hard on my slice,” Woodbridge says. “I had a great slice backhand, that was a bit of my forte, but I didn’t have a great topspin backhand. I wasn’t as fluid in that as a [Stan] Wawrinka was or Roger [Federer].”

Todd Woodbridge uses a one-handed backhand at Roland Garros in 1998.Credit: AP

The simple reality is that you can absorb pace far better if you have two hands on the racquet.

“It’s a really hard shot because it takes a lot of strength to be able to control the ball up above your shoulder,” Woodbridge says. “And the modern day, with the way the game is played with better string technology, and being able to spin the ball and jump it up higher than we did ... it is really tough to be a single-handed backhand in this modern game.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2023 Australian Open final against Novak Djokovic.Credit: Eddie Jim

When Stefanos Tsitsipas dropped out of the ATP’s top 10 in February 2024, it was the first time there hadn’t been a one-handed backhander in the top 10 since rankings started in 1973.

“That’s a dagger right there,” Federer told GQ magazine when discussing Tsitsipas’ slide out of the top 10. “I felt that one. That one was personal. I didn’t like that.

“But at the same time, how do you say, it makes the one-handers – [Pete] Sampras, Rod Laver, me – it makes us special as well, that we’ve carried the torch, or the flag or whatever, for as long as we did.

Backhand magic … Rod Laver.

“So I love seeing players with one-handers like Stan [Wawrinka] and [Richard] Gasquet and Tsitsipas. Dominic Thiem has a wonderful one. Grigor [Dimitrov], good friend. So I love that. And then I like to see characters, and I like to see explosive athletic players.”

Dimitrov has since moved into the top 10, and there are a number of other players such as Lorenzo Musetti and Dusan Lajovic in the ATP’s top 100 who use a “oney”.

Australian Christopher O’Connell is one of eight men’s top 100 players who still use the one-handed backhand, while only two female players in the WTA’s top 100 – Diane Parry and Tatjana Maria – use the shot.

O’Connell wanted to play one-handed from a young age, despite dabbling in the two-handed motion.

“My idol growing up was Pat Rafter,” O’Connell says. “As soon as I can remember watching tennis, I was in love with Pat Rafter. So I had the Prince racquet that he used, and I had the one-handed backhand.

O’Connell concedes there are disadvantages to the one-hander, but says he’s unsure if he would dump the shot from his armoury if he was starting his career again.

”I don’t know,” he says. “Yes and no. I think there are certain things on the court and throughout matches where it would be more beneficial to have a two-handed backhand, like return serve. It’s very tough to be one-handed to return serve.”

However, the one-hander also has its advantages, O’Connell says.

“With the one-handed backhand you can really extend and follow through and release, and I feel that you can probably create a little bit more angle because you can use the wrist a little bit more,” he says.

“And the other advantage, I think, is one-handed backhanders typically have better slices as opposed to two-handers. It’s a bit more foreign for them when they take their hand off their racquet, whereas it comes a bit more natural to me.”

The theatrical element of the one-hander makes it a special shot for players and fans alike, with “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd a constant accompaniment to Federer’s stinging backhands down the line or across court at such an acute angle his opponents barely had time to react.

The players who still use the “oney” are equally enthralling.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov is particularly flamboyant, employing a distinctive jumping backhand that has him leaping across court, while Tsitsipas also plays with flair as he lifts the ball up and rolls onto his toes, opening his arm up across his body like a wing.

And while the art of the one-hander is trending towards extinction, players like Tstisipas are determined to keep it alive.

“I want to inspire more people to pursue a single-handed backhand, to keep it in the game,” he told ausopen.com.

“Lately, not many have been playing that way, and it has become a more of a rare thing to see among the tennis scene. I would like to be someone that carries that legacy.”

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